Japan’s Master Animator to Be Honored in U.S. Visit

A scene from Ponyo, a coming film by Hayao Miyazaki, often called the Walt Disney of Japan.Credit
Walt Disney

LOS ANGELES — When the schedule of events for the 40th Comic-Con International fan convention is announced on Thursday, it is expected to include something quite rare, even for a gathering that has pretty much seen it all: an appearance by Hayao Miyazaki.

Mr. Miyazaki, regarded by many as the world’s greatest maker of animated films, does not seem to crave publicity. He was a no-show at the Oscars in 2003, when his “Spirited Away” won for best animated feature.

And he has not been quick to visit this country. “I think he has an image of the United States as a culture that isn’t that helpful to the world,” offered Duncan Williams, chairman of the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Yet the very private Mr. Miyazaki, in an extraordinary step, has agreed to address a room full of 6,500 admirers at the San Diego comics, fantasy and film convention on July 24. That is a prelude to his planned appearance the next day in Berkeley, where Mr. Williams’s center will present Mr. Miyazaki with its Japan Prize, awarded annually to a person who has brought the world closer to Japan.

July 28, should find Mr. Miyazaki in Beverly Hills, Calif., to be honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The night before, he will be in Hollywood for a screening of his “Ponyo,” about a 5-year-old boy and a goldfish princess in a world gone awry.

In part Mr. Miyazaki’s surprise tour is a promotional event: already a hit in many countries, “Ponyo,” in an English-language version, with Tina Fey and Matt Damon among those providing the voices, is set for release by Walt Disney Studios on Aug. 14. (Disney handles his films in many territories worldwide.)

But his arrival is also a cultural moment.

At the age of 68, with almost 20 features to his credit, Mr. Miyazaki has become a beacon for those who believe that animation has a special power to tell stories with universal appeal.

“He celebrates the quiet moments,” said John Lasseter, the chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios, in enumerating traits that make Mr. Miyazaki “one of the most original” filmmakers ever.

Mr. Lasseter, a friend of Mr. Miyazaki for more than 20 years, said he routinely looked to the master’s work, which has often combined computer animation with traditional techniques, for inspiration in directing or producing computer-animated films like the “Toy Story” installments, “Cars” or “Up,” all from Pixar.

Mr. Miyazaki visited the United States in 1999, when Disney’s unit Miramax Films released his “Princess Mononoke.” The film took in about $2.4 million at the domestic box office, but had $157 million in ticket sales in the rest of the world.

An e-mailed query to a representative for Mr. Miyazaki in Japan drew no response.

At Comic-Con Mr. Miyazaki and Mr. Lasseter are expected to appear as part of an animation presentation that will give a glimpse not only at “Ponyo,” but also at a series of coming Disney films, including “Toy Story 3,” “Beauty and the Beast 3-D” and “The Princess and the Frog.”

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Mr. Miyazaki will not be the only revered figure at this year’s convention. It is expected to include an appearance by James Cameron, who is scheduled for a July 23 presentation about 3-D filmmaking and his coming “Avatar,” for 20th Century Fox. Also on hand will be Peter Jackson. He was a producer of the forthcoming "District 9" for Sony Pictures; director of "The Lovely Bones," to be released by Paramount Pictures; and has been working as a writer and producer of "The Hobbit" for New Line Cinema and MGM.

Still, Mr. Miyazaki, with his roots in both manga and anime (comic books and animated films), may have unusually wide appeal among the 125,000 or so fans who often spend their time at Comic-Con burrowing into esoterica and personal obsessions like the state of steampunk (fantasy set in a steam-driven world) or what kind of action figures toymakers would make if nobody stopped them — both subjects of presentations last year.

“Probably a third of the convention will care” intensely about Mr. Miyazaki’s presence, said Mark Evanier, an author and Hollywood writer-producer who plans to conduct a number of panel discussions at this year’s gathering. (Convention tickets have long been sold out.)

Oddly, the cult around Mr. Miyazaki has yet to create a box office hit in the United States. His previous feature-length film, “Howl’s Moving Castle,” was nominated for an Oscar in 2006, but took in less than $5 million here, while selling more than $230 million in tickets abroad.

Mark Zoradi, president of Disney’s motion picture group, said the company was trying to expand Mr. Miyazaki’s audience here by releasing “Ponyo” more widely than it has his past films, in 800 theaters, and by promoting it on the Disney Channel, Disney.com and elsewhere.

Yet Mr. Miyazaki and his work, according to Mr. Williams of Berkeley, have become a primary portal for those who would learn more about Japan.

New scholars, said Mr. Williams, whose center has already sold out its Miyazaki appearance, used to talk about studying an economic competitor.

“Today, no student says that,” Mr. Williams said. “They talk about growing up with Japanese manga, Japanese anime.”

Correction: July 14, 2009

An article on Thursday about the planned appearance of Hayao Miyazaki, the renowned maker of animated films, at the Comic-Con International fan convention in San Diego this month referred incorrectly to the screening of his film “Ponyo” in Hollywood on July 27, which he is expected to attend. It will be a screening for people in the film industry  not the American premiere, which took place in June at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: Japan’s Master Animator to Be Honored in U.S. Visit. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe